Being light, graceful and sneaky worked well for Gamora because it meant she could creep into the homes of her victims, allowing them to stay blissfully unaware of her presence before their final moments. Currently, she was slipping into her next victim's home through a small space left by an open window. Thanos had sent her to assassinate yet another man who had 'wronged' him. She had no say in the matter. If she wanted to live and to keep her sister Nebula safe then she had to kill.

Before she had left, Thanos had taken her to the side of the room and threatened Nebula's life. If he found out that Gamora had failed her mission, he would torture her sister and he'd make it clear to Nebula that it was Gamora's fault. He'd smiled and waved as she'd walked away, she'd kept her eyes fixed to the ground as she moved in order to avoid her sister's questioning eyes.

Now, she was standing in this man's home trying to build up the courage to creep up the stairs and into his room to murder him in his sleep. Her hand trembled as it hovered over the handle of her Godslayer. She hated this type of killing, she preferred to slay those during a battle – it made her feel less evil and more like she was fighting to protect herself rather than to just assassinate the other. This killing was very one-sided, but she was an assassin. It was her job and she'd done it hundreds of times. Though, that didn't mean it made the build up to it any easier.

She jumped when she saw a small figure move from behind a door.

"Hello," said a small voice, "who are you?"

Gamora gulped. A little girl stood before her, eating a large pink cookie, with an innocent look on her face.

"I-" was all Gamora managed to say. She couldn't think of what to do or say.

"Are you one of my daddy's friends? Because he's not here, he's with his friends in that other building over there," said the little girl, pointing her finger at the window Gamora had just came through.

"Yes… I'm your father's friend."

The little girl disappeared for a moment and Gamora took the time to clench her fists in frustration and look cautiously out of the window. The girl soon came back and held out a pink cookie to Gamora.

"My daddy made them," she smiled.

Gamora hesitantly took the cookie. Her eyes never left the little girl. She watched as she climbed up on a chair, her feet nowhere close to touching the ground, and munched on her cookie. Gamora felt her stomach flip and her legs suddenly felt weak so she sat down on the chair opposite.

"Your father…" Gamora started to speak but found that she couldn't finish her sentence.

"He'll be home soon. He had to go help his friend who is poorly," said the girl, predicting Gamora's question.

Gamora nodded, and looked down at the cookie she held in her hands.

"Your father sounds like a good man."

"He is. He always looks after me when I am poorly, too."

Gamora's noticed her own hands were shaking, so placed the cookie on a side table and put her hands on her knees. She didn't know the man she had been sent to kill had a daughter. If she had known that, she would have refused to come… even if it meant she and Nebula would be tortured for her defiance. Now, she was thinking of other people she had assassinated and if any of them had children.

"You don't want the cookie?" the little girl's voice cut through Gamora's thoughts.

Gamora shook her head and handed the little girl the cookie, which she happily started stuffing into her mouth.

"Should you not be in bed? It is late."

The little girl shrugged, "My daddy said that he would read me a story when he got back. I didn't want to fall asleep without my story."

Gamora almost smiled.

"Hey, I've changed my mind, are there any cookies left?"

The little girl smiled and nodded eagerly. She moved to the doorway she had previously appeared from.

"And may I have something to drink?" asked Gamora and the girl nodded once more before happily skipping away.

Gamora let her head drop and she mumbled to herself. Maybe she did have a say. She didn't want to be the monster who would take away this child's father, so she wouldn't. She couldn't even comprehend the idea of orphaning a child, she didn't want another little girl to go through what she went through.

She picked up the small pad and pen that sat on the side table and wrote the father a note. She warned him in this that someone was out to murder him and that he had to leave immediately. She angled the pad and pen differently to before she had picked them up, and prayed the man would notice.

Before the little girl came back with the food and drink, Gamora climbed out of the window and hid between the greenery outside the building. After what felt like years of waiting, she saw the man enter his home. She peered through the window and watched as he scooped his daughter up in his arms. He put her down and motioned for her to go upstairs to which she did. Gamora watched him look around, scratching the back of his head, then picking up the pad. She watched his reaction; panic and fear evident through the way his body moved and the way his face dropped. Gamora moved back from the window, walking quickly away.

She hadn't completed her mission but the man had been warned. He now had time to flee and hopefully she could convince Thanos he was dead.

This had been Gamora's push into reality. The 'deadliest woman in the Galaxy' was quitting. She hadn't fully thought out the consequences of her actions until this night.

Soon, Thanos was to send her and her sister to work for Ronan and she knew she would be ordered to kill more people but she didn't want to. In that moment, she made a vow to herself that she would never kill for him again, and that she would do her best to escape him, she just needed to find the perfect time to do so.